Bears Have What It Takes

Not For Super Bowl, But Postseason Play

On paper, the Bears are not a playoff team. Man for man, they don't appear to match up with the Packers, Vikings or Lions in the NFC Central Division, let alone NFC powers Dallas and San Francisco.

Offensively, they retooled their 28th-ranked team mainly by hiring second-stringers from other teams.

Defensively, they lost Richard Dent and Steve McMichael, who had 18 1/2 sacks last year.

But they believe they will make the playoffs and they probably will.

Here's why:

Coaching: Dave Wannstedt knows what he is doing. He also knows what he can't do. Faced with a bigger rebuilding job than anyone realized, he has structured a team that can be described as scrappy. That means there are no Troy Aikmans, Emmitt Smiths or Michael Irvins in sight, but the Bears did manage to trade a player, Jim Schwantz, to Dallas, so their talent couldn't be totally lacking.

"It's never a question of lack of talent," safety Shaun Gayle said. "Every team has the talent to win the Super Bowl. Some are stacked more than others, but it's more a question of how strong you can be, how you get all your personnel geared up at the same time."

Wannstedt and his staff know they don't have a superstar running back, for example, so they kept an unusually large number of seven running backs, all of whom likely will play at one time or another over the long season.

They kept eight defensive linemen with the intent again to rotate the way Dallas does. Replacing Dent's big-play ability will require ingenuity. Alonzo Spellman will pound on a tackle for three quarters and Albert Fontenot or John Thierry will get the sacks in the fourth quarter. Eventually, a Dent will have to be developed or found, as the Cowboys acquired Charles Haley.

Quarterbacking: Wannstedt likes to point out that Aikman threw no pass more than 30 yards in the air during last year's playoffs. That means cannon arms are nice but not always necessary. That means, in coordinator Ron Turner's offense, there is little dropoff between Erik Kramer and Steve Walsh. That means the Bears are in good shape at the position for what they expect from an offense: Don't mess up.

The thing Kramer and Walsh do better than throw is make quick decisions. Kramer clearly is No. 1. Wannstedt remembers him as the last quarterback to beat the Cowboys in the playoffs, way back after the 1991 season.

In Kramer and Walsh, the Bears believe they have more stability and experience at quarterback than any NFC Central rival.

Neither is expected to heave three touchdown passes a game or bring the Bears from behind every week. But they are taking over the 28th offense in the league and are expected to improve it considerably. All last season, the Bears threw two touchdown passes from inside the 20-yard line. In their final preseason game, they threw three.

Discipline: The Bears committed 27 penalties during the preseason, one-third fewer than their opponents. Of the 27, 13 were committed by rookies. The team was charged with 12 false-start or offside penalties, ones that can be classified as mental mistakes. By contrast, their quarterbacks lured opposing defenses into 14 offside penalties alone. There were none of those annoying "blocking in the back" penalties on kicks. "Because we don't teach it," said special teams coach Dan Abramowicz.

They lost only two fumbles during the preseason, both in the last game, one by a player who didn't make the team. They threw only three interceptions in preseason play and won the turnover ratio at plus-four.

After the Giants game, Wannstedt mentioned nothing about the Bears' first undefeated preseason since 1958. Instead, he harped on turnovers and mistakes that could haunt.

Attitude: While other coaches on other teams backed off strenuous, two-a-day drills in training camp in deference to the long season and the new restrictions of the salary cap, Wannstedt and his staff were tougher than ever.

"Of my 11 training camps, this was the hardest," Gayle said. "The hardest one before was last year."

The only serious injury was the broken ankle suffered by receiver-punt returner Terry Obee. If the Bears wear down as the season progresses, Wannstedt will be criticized. But his theory is that young athletes can and need to be pushed.

After their third preseason game in Kansas City on a Monday night, the Bears practiced hard Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. By Friday, in a lighter workout, they were dragging and trying to take it easy. Wannstedt stopped practice, called the troops together and told them simply: "This is when you're going to get beat."

Gayle pointed out that when the Giants were driving in the fourth quarter last Saturday, "Guys looked at each other in the huddle like they'd been there before."